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VMware Sneaks Out Arm ESXi Tech Preview With Nvidia Grace and Ampere Support

VMware has quietly launched a technology preview of its ESX hypervisor running on Arm processors, supporting servers from HPE, Gigabyte, and Supermicro powered by Ampere and Nvidia Grace chips, with guest OS support for RHEL, Ubuntu, and SUSE. The preview is limited in scope, lacking key features such as vSAN storage and NSX networking, and requires a separate x86-based vCenter for management. VMware is pursuing Arm support due to growing customer interest in edge computing, AI workloads, and the energy efficiency advantages of Arm processors, though the company has not committed to a timeline for a full release.

VMware has quietly released a technology preview of its ESX hypervisor running on Arm-based hardware, and quietly is doing a lot of work in that sentence. There was no fanfare, just an X post that caught attention and pointed toward a PDF sitting on VMware's public-facing servers.

The document reveals support for RHEL, Ubuntu, and SUSE guest operating systems on servers from HPE and Gigabyte using Ampere processors, plus Supermicro's ARS-221GL fitted with an Nvidia Grace chip. A fairly narrow hardware list, but this is a tech preview, not a product launch.

There is, however, an eyebrow-raising line buried in the documentation. Arm host clusters must be managed by a separate standalone vCenter running on x86, and VMware specifically advises against managing x86 and Arm clusters from the same vCenter instance. Whether that counts as a feature or a known limitation is left to the reader's imagination.

The preview is stripped back in other ways too. No vSAN, no NSX, none of the more advanced bits that make up the full VMware stack. Those missing pieces matter, because without them this is barely a shadow of what VCF offers on x86. For anything resembling a production-ready Arm-based private cloud, customers will be waiting a while longer.

On the desktop side, VMware has updated both Workstation and Fusion to let users connect to remote Arm-based ESXi hosts. That means developers can manage virtual machines sitting on Arm servers directly from their laptops, regardless of what architecture that laptop is running on. It is a small but practical addition, and fits with VMware's stated view that cross-architecture development environments are becoming the norm.

Why bother with Arm at all? VMware's parent Broadcom sees edge computing and AI workloads pulling customers toward Arm silicon, and the efficiency argument is hard to ignore. AWS Graviton, Microsoft Cobalt, Google Axion, all of them exist precisely because hyperscalers found they could do more per watt with custom Arm designs than with x86. VMware would rather have a story to tell in that conversation than be absent from it.

That said, VMware has previously admitted there is no urgency here. Customers are Arm-curious rather than Arm-committed, and the company seems happy to let the tech preview simmer while demand builds.

Meanwhile, the competition is not sitting still. Platform9 last week launched Platform9 OS, a Linux-based appliance that bundles its Private Cloud Director in a format that does not require Linux expertise to operate. The pitch is aimed squarely at VMware's largest customers, with a promise of no lock-in and no restrictive hardware compatibility requirements.

Australian vendor Netframe is taking a different angle, releasing a free tier of its product supporting up to three hosts. The classic open-core play, betting that home lab users and small operators who try it will eventually pay for support and enterprise features.

Neither rival is exactly threatening VMware's install base tomorrow. But both are building pipelines of users who might one day decide Broadcom's licensing terms are not worth the trouble.